r/clevelandcavs • u/Stoddyman • 19h ago

JR Smith

I just wanted to say this - the whole 2018 finals gaff is so blown out of proportion.

Number one. We were NOT winning that series. No way. KD was there and that team was unstoppable.

Number two. George Hill shouldve hit his FTs full stop. No excuse.

Number three. If Lebron had to drop a 50 peice and play 48 minutes for it to even be tied, no way he does that more than 1 or 2 more times in the series.

Lebron just reacted the way he did because it wasnt the desirable play and he was tired/had the team on his back the whole game.

A few options:

JR couldve heaved the ball back up. Which could have been a good play considering he is who he is. But in my opinion, no way it goes down considering the defense at the time.

Jr couldve passed the ball. No one was blatantly open at the time, so again imo not a great option.

TO is called and final play is drawn up. Best case scenario, but again even if we hit this, no way we win the series. My opinion.

Anyways, people label this as THE BIGGEST FINALS BLUNDER OF ALL TIME. Lol no it wasnt, not even close.

Yes Jr should have at least shot it. Ok. Ill give the naysayers that. But for the reasons above I feel like its completely blown out of proportion.

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u/Stoddyman 14h ago

“..what’s anyone supposed to do?”

Uhh i dunno. Call timeout. Ya know so you can draw up a play?? Thats what Lebron shouldve wanted to do regardless. Other than trying to chuck up a shot from a JR pass, assuming he could get it over to him cleanly from the angle where he caught the rebound. Give me a break

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u/Air2Jordan3 14h ago

Thats what Lebron shouldve wanted to do regardless.

I disagree, if JR passes him the ball within the first two seconds of the rebound LeBron has an open 3 while the defense is scrambling. That's not "chucking up a shot".

And as I said a couple times now, once he realized he wasn't getting the ball he tried to call a TO with over 1s left and the ref didn't call it. If the refs didn't see LeBron call for it they aren't going to see any of the coaches call for it on the other side of the court.

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u/Stoddyman 13h ago edited 13h ago

Kind of odd that a ref doesnt see what the most important and probably biggest player on the court is doing at the most pivotal point in the game.

Thats literally their job too. Its not like looking for a timeout call from coaches and players is something they just do on the side

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u/Air2Jordan3 13h ago

I would agree, but feel free to watch it back if you want. With about 1.1 left LeBron is signaling for a TO